Microsoft will remove the bloatware from your PC, for a price

$99 and a trip to a Microsoft Store will get you a clean Windows install.

Preinstalled trial versions of useless software have been slowing down new PCs for years, and Microsoft is finally offering a solution: bring your PC into a Microsoft Store and pay them $99 to install a clean copy of Windows.

The new program is an outgrowth of Microsoft's "Signature" PC initiative, which sells bloatware-free versions of PCs from Microsoft's partners in Microsoft stores. AllThingsD reports that Microsoft is now offering to change any computer into a Signature PC if customers bring it into the store and pay the requisite fee. Signature PCs also include Microsoft's Windows Live Essentials programs; the ad-supported, Word and Excel-only Microsoft Office Starter edition; the Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus package; and the Zune media player software. Users can choose not to have these programs installed, and can also specify if they would like other third-party browsers or programs installed. Ninety days of free phone support is also included.

It's nice that this new arm of the Signature program will do for regular users what power users have been doing themselves for years, but it's hard not to see this as a solution to a problem that Microsoft had a hand in creating. Installing bloatware and trialware is one way for PC makers to keep costs down—a goal many consumers appreciate—but by not enforcing stronger restrictions on what OEMs can and can't preinstall on their PCs, Microsoft and its partners have created a situation where the default Windows experience on new computers can be pretty terrible. It's nice that the Signature program offers a way around that, but it would be even nicer if the Signature program didn't need to exist in the first place.

Promoted Comments

That is ridiculously expensive. I understand that this targets users who are either to afraid to reinstall Windows, or do not even begin to know how, but that price is almost laughable.

It's actually a pretty decent price when compared to what you'd pay most computer service providers to do the same work. Also, consider the time involved. If you can slap in a restore disk that does most of the work for you, that's one thing. If not, it's a job that can take a few hours, and unless you can find someone without overhead costs to consider (like someone working out of their house, a buddy who can do it, etc.), nobody's going to do it for peanuts.

99 dollars to wipe a computer? Nice profit margin there. If MS really wanted to help this issue they would be better off creating an easily accessible and usable "reset windows to stock" option in the control menu instead of charging people to delete crapware. But of course that would be making it too easy, and too unprofitable.

99 dollars to wipe a computer? Nice profit margin there. If MS really wanted to help this issue they would be better off creating an easily accessible and usable "reset windows to stock" option in the control menu instead of charging people to delete crapware. But of course that would be making it too easy, and too unprofitable.

That is ridiculously expensive. I understand that this targets users who are either to afraid to reinstall Windows, or do not even begin to know how, but that price is almost laughable.

It's actually a pretty decent price when compared to what you'd pay most computer service providers to do the same work. Also, consider the time involved. If you can slap in a restore disk that does most of the work for you, that's one thing. If not, it's a job that can take a few hours, and unless you can find someone without overhead costs to consider (like someone working out of their house, a buddy who can do it, etc.), nobody's going to do it for peanuts.

Of course this isn't necessarily a trivial task as once windows is installed they may have to hunt down the appropriate drivers for the PC they are working on. When I did a clean install on my Dell XPS17 recently it probably took me an hour of hunting / installing. Dell's support site is appallingly bad (as is the rest of their site) and they don't seem to put their drivers on Windows Update.

Bloatware has saved the low end of the market for Microsoft. People often ask why it isn't cheaper to get a pre-installed PC with, say, Ubuntu than with Windows. After all, Linux is free, right? The problem is, the big PC manufacturers get enough money from the bloatware pushers to pay for the OEM Windows license, and in some cases more, meaning that it can actually cost them more to provide a Linux PC than a bloated Windows PC.

If it weren't for bloatware, Windows would have a huge problem today: you can get a decent basic desktop system for under $300, Microsoft wants about $50 for the OS, and you have to build in dealer markups. If there were no subsidies, you might see a $300 machine with Ubuntu going up against a $375 or $400 identical machine with Windows. With that big a discount and so many people hurting economically, you might see Ubuntu greatly increasing its market share in a hurry. But no worries, bloatware saves the day for the Redmond folks.

99 dollars to wipe a computer? Nice profit margin there. If MS really wanted to help this issue they would be better off creating an easily accessible and usable "reset windows to stock" option in the control menu instead of charging people to delete crapware. But of course that would be making it too easy, and too unprofitable.

A quick visit to the Geek Squad site shows that they charge $130 for the same service, except you have to supply your own discs, so they may end up installing some of the same crapware again.

It might not be a bad idea to make it a loss leader though, just to get people into the store and see the advantages of buying a crapware-free machine next time around.

Of course this isn't necessarily a trivial task as once windows is installed they may have to hunt down the appropriate drivers for the PC they are working on. When I did a clean install on my Dell XPS17 recently it probably took me an hour of hunting / installing. Dell's support site is appallingly bad (as is the rest of their site) and they don't seem to put their drivers on Windows Update.

Guess that may explain some of the cost.

What do you mean? Dells site is totally awesome for getting drivers. I especially love the way you can enter a machines exact service tag so dell knows exactly what hardware is in the machine, and then proceeds to offer you 20 differnet manufacturers drivers for devices that your machine doesn't even have.

What do you mean? Dells site is totally awesome for getting drivers. I especially love the way you can enter a machines exact service tag so dell knows exactly what hardware is in the machine, and then proceeds to offer you 20 differnet manufacturers drivers for devices that your machine doesn't even have.

Is new ars fair and balanced? This is a terrible deal and just MS preying is its customers. A cleanup or a configured OEM reformat does the same thing.

Where can you get a clean wipe and reinstall for less, and not requiring you to provide your own OS CD, legally? If you can give a number of sources that don't include home based businesses that you would have a valid point. Most places charge at least $50/hour and a wipe, reinstall, driver hunt, and any backup/restore of files you might have already put on the machine will take at least two hours, but also require that the user provide their OS disk that they most likely won't have. The recovery partition on OEM boxes tends to restore to factory defaults, ie bloatware city again.

Let me ask this: How much does the Apple store charge to remove all the crapware (iTunes, Appstore, etc.) from a new Mac?

Well if you seriously wanted them to remove it, zero dollars. They offer to help you set up the computer when you buy it. But nice trolling, equating iTunes and the App Store with the crapware stuff that comes installed on most PCs. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

Let me ask this: How much does the Apple store charge to remove all the crapware (iTunes, Appstore, etc.) from a new Mac?

That's hardly relevant when Zune Player and soon the Windows 8 Marketplace will be included in what MS is doing here. You could also say that iTunes is simply part of the OS' application library on Mac, like Media Player is in Windows (which MS isn't offering to remove). Thinking that this is a pretty cynical offer on MS' part has nothing to do with being a hater, unless you're talking to a rabid fanboy.

The fact is that PCs have lousy customer satisfaction ratings precisely because of low build quality and bloatware messing up the experience. That's Microsoft's problem as much as anyone elses, and Microsoft is now saying they'll only fix it for an extra fee.

The real fix for this should be to go back to giving people clean media and not allow tons of crapware to be installed in the first place, but the article lays out precisely why that isn't going to happen: it makes Windows cheaper for the bottom end of the market. (It's also the reason why my going on two year old custom small-shop build still runs circles in real-life performance compared to something brand new from the store today.)

I've worked for a number of big box retailers that offer IT services and $100 for a wipe and restore is pretty standard, not to mention many of those retailers charge added fees to install extra software. I've also yet to see one that would allow their staff to install Security Essentials as they all offered Norton or McAfee bundles that would net us a tidy profit. It happens, mind you, but it's not supported by the company.

PC manufacturers can't figure out how to add value to product to increase their margins and consumers demanding the lowest price regardless of the consequences, how is this MS problem?

If MS tried to dictate what programs OEMs put on their systems they would be in for a world of hurt. Certainly the EU wouldn't stand for it and I doubt it would last long in the US.

In the history of trialware, no program sitting on a hard drive has slowed a person's system. It has to be running, period.

Finally, if a user is so ignorant that they don't know how to remove a program on their system I really don't care what others charge for a service with a similar result. I am so tired of this attitude that basically amounts to the assumption computers users shouldn't have to know how to operate a computer.

A computer is a powerful tool. Learn to use it or go buy an iPad and STFU.

Or, you could just download the OS off a torrent and use your product key. $99 for a clean install seems rather pricey

Tried it once, but it didn't work on my Dell. Seems like the computer is somehow connected to the serial number shown on the bottom of the computer. I could still use the original serial number from when I bought the copy of windows, but I would have rather used the serial that came with my comp. Luckily Dell will send out a disk with your copy of windows on it - they do make it hard for you to do though.

Let me ask this: How much does the Apple store charge to remove all the crapware (iTunes, Appstore, etc.) from a new Mac?

It's already been answered that they'll (Apple) do it for free. I'm pretty sure they'll also migrate data from an old computer over for you even if it's a Windows machine. Of course they have a vested interest in doing so but it's still a nice service to provide gratis. I guess they can charge what they want though or what the market will bear. If people that want the service feel it's priced what they're willing to pay then it's of value. Just because it isn't to you only means you're not a customer.

99 dollars to wipe a computer? Nice profit margin there. If MS really wanted to help this issue they would be better off creating an easily accessible and usable "reset windows to stock" option in the control menu instead of charging people to delete crapware. But of course that would be making it too easy, and too unprofitable.

There really isn't much of a profit margin when you consider how long this process takes vs. how much they pay a tech to do it. I don't know how much their techs get paid per hour, but I would consider this "entry level" support and put a price tag of around $15 an hour for it. A wipe and reinstall alone will take an hour on the average machine (not top of the line). When you factor in driver installs, file restores and app reinstallation (not sure if they provide?), this could be a 5 hour task.

So if a tech were to be paid $15 an hour for this work, at 5 hours it would be $75, leaving a tiny profit margin on this service. I think it is a way to get customers in the store without taking a loss on the service.

As for the "real fix" you suggest, there has always been an easily accessible and usable way to reset windows to stock, its called reinstalling. If you are concerned about bloatware when you purchase a computer, your first step should be to wipe the OS and reinstall. If you are not tech savvy enough to know how to do this, then there are really only a few solutions:

Microsoft is the chief source of the problem as they prevent vendors from distributing a plain Windows install disc with new computers. It isn't just OEM greed saving on the plastic disc. Microsoft is suing a British retail firm for making such discs and providing them to customers who bought new PCs with bundled Windows. Yes, not pirate copies of Windows but paid copies and Microsoft sues the vendor who provides a disc so their customers re-install if they need or it suits them.

That "restore partition" is intended to be fragile and full of crapware. How this puts money in Microsoft's pocket is not entirely clear but they go out of their way to make it this way. It is an awful lot harder to clean up an existing Windows install than to start over and make a clean one. I'm not sure it can ever quite get there having spent many hours cleaning a crapware infested laptop including a few checkpoint restores after removing some junk broke the whole.

Even this program doesn't get you there easily. You have to bring your computer to a participating store. Who wants to backup and clean everything personal off a computer then drag it off to a store? Or take it there and hope no one messes with anything they shouldn't? Even if you do all this do you get a clean Windows disc? Or just an install on your computer which is vulnerable to being corrupted?

Microsoft is so afraid of copying they have made PCs painful. I can clone a copy of Linux with all its settings on to a new computer in a few minutes. It doesn't demand to be activated. It doesn't blue screen because the motherboard is different. It comes with every application and setting for the cost of bouncing so much data through an external hard drive. I haven't worked with Macs for some years now but when I last did I could be given a new hand me down Mac to replace my old hand me down Mac, put them both on a local net, move my applications, move my files, move my settings folder, shut down the old Mac and give it on down the line never needing to see it again in about 10 minutes.

Who wants a new PC anyway? They were good enough years ago. If you get a new one you are in for a ton of work taming the crapware and getting it set up right. You can't just copy your existing environment over. Oh no, that would be piracy! Forget it, stay with the old as long as you can. Maybe a new phone or tablet will do what you care about. Sad to see Microsoft dragging personal computers down with them in their greed.

Or, you could just download the OS off a torrent and use your product key. $99 for a clean install seems rather pricey

Tried it once, but it didn't work on my Dell. Seems like the computer is somehow connected to the serial number shown on the bottom of the computer. I could still use the original serial number from when I bought the copy of windows, but I would have rather used the serial that came with my comp. Luckily Dell will send out a disk with your copy of windows on it - they do make it hard for you to do though.

Yeah. OEM's seem to have customized reinstall cd's. To reinstall WinXP on an old HP ultra-slim form factor, I had to specifically go dig up a torrent for that comp's reinstall cd. Once I did, it worked like a charm.

-or-

The alternative was to pay HP like $20-30 to have them mail me a new reinstall CD. So, OEM's also realize this is a scam.

That's why I'm sort of excited about Win 8's ability to "reformat" itself on the fly to freshen itself back up. Maybe it'll be the "reinstall the OS, but make it eff'ing easy" solution folks are looking for that won't involve cd's and pissing away an afternoon dl'ing all the hot fixes, service packs and reinstalling all the software you wanted to keep.

My last windows 7 laptop had lots o' crap on it (80 processes on boot). I just used a Win7 install DVD and a program called ABR (activation backup restore). This only worked on the same hardware (since the activation files are hardware dependent), so it wasn't a piracy program. Works great as long as Windows Update finds all your hardware drivers.

Personally, the level of disfunctionality out of the box for many OEMs is absurd. It's almost like systems are pre-shipped with malware. No wonder phishing programs work, you have stuff asking for money right from the start of your Windows experience. The OEM specific stuff seems to be the worst!

$99 is literally highway robbery. I didn't know Microsoft was in the business of pulling Geek Squad level trickeries...

Geek Squad would never do a "bloatware free" install. All they would do is reinstall Windows from the hidden partition or the CD that came with it, bloatware included and they'll charge you as much as or more than 99$.

99 dollars to wipe a computer? Nice profit margin there. If MS really wanted to help this issue they would be better off creating an easily accessible and usable "reset windows to stock" option in the control menu instead of charging people to delete crapware. But of course that would be making it too easy, and too unprofitable.

Because such a feature isn't being added to Windows 8, of course.

You assume that the restored image isn't the bloatware crippled image of (insert OEM here).

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.